Garsington Parish Council

GARSINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

The Monthly Meeting of the Parish Council was held in the Village Hall on Monday 4th January 2016, commencing at 7.30pm. The Vice Chairman Anne Eastwood presided: present were Cllrs Paul Bolam, Richard Betteridge, Ian Dickinson, Matthew Dovey, John Hieatt, Mike Patrick, Judith Westgate, with J Eden in attendance. Also present were six members of the public, District Councillor Elizabeth Gillespie and County Councillor Lorraine Lindsay-Gale.

1/16/1 Apologies for Absence

Chairman Chris Wright – away on business

1/16/2 Declarations of Interest

Cllr Patrick declared an interest under item 1/16/12 Disabled Ramp

1/16/3 Public Participation

Mr Surman asked if any progress had been made on the problem hedges around the village that he had previously brought to the attention of the Council, some had been cut but others remained a problem, in particular parts of Oxford Road and Wheatley Road. Cllr Eastwood advised that letters had been sent to residents and the situation would continue to be monitored.

Mr Surman also asked if any further work was going to be done in Pettiwell, there were still problems with drainage, the work carried out last year by the County Council had only partially solved the problems and the quality of the work was not of a high standard. He also referred to the flooding at the junction of Pettiwell and B480. Cllr Patrick reported that contact with the County Council was on-gong regarding all of these issues, but with all the budget cuts it was difficult to get anything done.

Mr Lloyd Williams asked if there were any plans to monitor the traffic speeds on the Wheatley Road, Cllr Dovey said that a speed survey had been carried out last year by the County Council and the results of this survey had given an average speed of 34mph. The Parish owned speed monitoring device was currently located in Southend but there were plans to move it to the Wheatley Road, data from this device had shown that although average speeds produced figures of around 34/35mph the data captured also showed that many vehicles did travel at much higher speeds through the village. Due to the low level of traffic incidents in the village it was very difficult to get support from the police.

Mr Lloyd Williams said he would contact Cllr Dovey to discuss the situation further and also the location of the speed indicator device in the Wheatley Road.

1/16/4 Minutes of the Monthly Meeting held on 7th December 2015

The minutes were adopted and signed as a true record.

1/16/5 Matters Arising from the Minutes not covered elsewhere on the Agenda

None

1/16/6 County Councillor’s Report

The report received from the County Councillor had been circulated.

County Cllr Lorraine Lindsay- Gale stated the County Council was still in shock at the additional £20m saving they were being asked to make, this is in addition to the £50m already advised, this additional £20m cut was due to the changes in the formula that Central Government were using. The list of proposed savings was already controversial with much opposition from the public, sadly things could only get worse. Parishes will be expected to take a much bigger role in supplying local services. The clerk advised that Tim Shickle would be attending the February Parish Council meeting to advise on Oxfordshire Together. The Cabinet recommendations are due to be published and go before the Committee in January before the budget goes to the full Council on 16th February 2016.

The County Councillor also spoke briefly about Devolution and the case that had been put forward and the additional monies that were potentially available, District Councillor Elizabeth Gillespie agreed that the meeting had been very positive even though there were opposing views on how things would be run.

Cllr Judith Westgate asked if this went ahead and additional money was available would it be used to reverse some of the proposed cuts in the budget to Children’s Centres and Bus Subsidies. The County Councillor responded that if they were successful the additional money could only be used for infrastructure and would not be allocated to any of the areas that were currently in the proposed budget cuts.

Cllr Richard Betteridge asked the County Councillor about the proposed road scheme from Didcot to the Golden Balls Roundabout, surely this would just create additional traffic problems on what was already a very busy route into the City and did it really make any sense. County Cllr Lorraine Lindsay-Gale said this was just a proposal and at the present time there was no money available.

County Cllr Lorraine Lindsay-Gale left the meeting at 8pm

1/16/7 District Councillor’s Report

Kiln Lane application, District Cllr Elizabeth Gillespie advised that this was due to be heard at the full planning meeting on 10th February 2016, she had arranged a meeting with Barbara Engstrom at 7.30pm on 13th January 2016 to decide how to proceed, however she advised that currently the planning officer was likely to recommend that the application be approved. Cllr Mike Patrick said what is the point of a village meeting attended by approximately one hundred people, most of them opposed to the application, if the planning department did not take any notice of what had been said and were going to recommend approval anyway. Cllr Gillespie said that all responses to planning applications were taken into account. Mr Surman asked the District Councillor if she or the planning department were aware that the site had been used to dump all kinds of rubbish and had a ground contamination report been done at the site. The District Councillor could not answer the question but said she would look into this.

Green Belt Study – District Councillor Elizabeth Gillespie advised that she had spoken with Peter Canavan and he had spoken with Chairman Chris Wright on the telephone and she understood that everything had now been clarified.

Neighbourhood Plan – District Councillor Elizabeth Gillespie said she had arranged for Luke Brown to attend the February Meeting to provide in more detail the need for a Neighbourhood Plan.

The District Councillor reported that currently SODC finances were in good order and they did not intend making any cuts to services at the present time, one priority was to look at more affordable homes, although the council had only had to deal with 9 cases of homelessness in the last nine months.

1/16/8 Finance

Barclays Bank Current Account at November 2015 £37,046.25

PC to note the DD payment to Grundons £54.65

Credit due, this had been overcharged.

Payment from Oxford Fieldpaths Society £1035.00

(kissing gates)

The following cheques were approved and signed

Colourplus December/January £844.48

HMRC/PAYE £93.60

Mrs J Eden – Clerks Salary £278.54

Mrs J Eden – Newsletter Editor £96.39

Go Ride CIC £67.92

1/16/9 Planning

P15/S4159/HH 98 Wheatley Road

Two storey rear extension and replacement outbuildings

The Parish Council did not have any objections to the application.

P15/S4129/FUL Land adjacent to St Mary’s Church, Southend

Demolition of some agricultural buildings, retention of one building for agricultural purposes. Repair, restoration and conversion of other retained buildings to a single storey dwelling. Change of use of land south of Church to form extension to the Parish Burial Ground.

Mr Young was present at the meeting and the Vice Chairman asked him if he wanted to speak before the Council discussed the application. He said that this application had taken into account all the areas that had been cause for concern in previous applications, the proposed building had been reduced in size and with recent changes in planning law particular in relation to agricultural buildings he was hopeful of a more positive outcome. He said he had concerns that this application would not be dealt with impartially as the same officer Gabriella Brown was dealing with the application, she had dealt with two previous applications that had been refused. District Councillor Elizabeth Gillespie said it would receive the same impartial consideration as any other plans, regardless of the Officer, Mr Young was not convinced and the District Councillor agreed to speak to Gabrielle Brown the following day and advise her of the applicants concerns she also said that circumstances surrounding planning had changed a great deal in the last year, she would report back to Mr Young after her meeting.

The Parish Council then discussed the planning application, Chairman Chris Wright had emailed the Clerk and the Vice Chairman stating that he had no objections to either the application for the conversion to a dwelling or the change of use. All of the Parish Councillors present were in favour of approving this application. Cllr Richard Betteridge did voice his concern about the roof material being proposed but he was not raising any objections to the application. Cllr Ian Dickinson asked the District Councillor if the Planning Department would actually take notice of the support for this application. It was then agreed that the Parish Council would recommend approval of this application on the same basis that they had supported the other applications.

Cllr Matthew Dovey suggested that if this application is refused again then the Parish Council should ask the planning department to explain why.

Cllr Matthew Dovey raised the issue of the broadband unit on the green by the telephone box, although the council had not been advised there was an application to put in a further box behind the current one to accommodate the increase in the number of lines required for superfast broadband in Southend and Wheatley Road. This had been a controversial site when the initial installation had taken place and further street furniture in this location was not acceptable, particularly as it was in the conservation area. Cllr Dovey said he would draft a response.

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1/16/10 Correspondence to Chairman and Clerk

Email from Jon Godwin regarding the danger to cyclist at the Unipart Entrance on the Oxford Road. Cllr Paul Bolam said he was in communication with Mr Godwin and was dealing with the issues. It was suggested that Unipart be advised of the problem, Cllr Bolam said he also intended to put an article in the next Newsletter to asking if any other cyclists had experienced problems at this junction or been involved in accidents, he had twice been knocked off his bike at this junction. He would also contact the highways department at the County Council.

Big Clean Up – SODC. The clerk had already advised SODC of those areas in the village that Councillors wished the District Council to include in this clean-up operation. It was due to take place in January subject to weather conditions.

District Councillor Elizabeth Gillespie left the meeting at 8.20pm

1/16/11 Playground

Cllr Paul Bolam reported that the playground was tidy although the grass was very long. He was concerned about the moss that was growing on the wet pour surfaces. The bark under the aerial runway still needed to be raked and redistributed he hoped to arrange a working party in the next few weeks to carry out this outstanding work.

1/16/12 Village Maintenance

Disabled Ramp – Sketch of proposed ramp had been circulated, however concerns were expressed that this was not in the place that had previously been identified as suitable, current sketch would have the disabled access running to close to the steps that gave access to the residential dwellings above the shops. Cllr Ian Dickinson agreed to redraw and forward to the clerk.

Kissing Gates- Cllr Richards Betteridge advised that the gates had still not been installed due to the poor weather conditions, he agreed to speak to the contractor again.

Trees in Combewell- Cllr Judith Westgate had researched the ownership of the land; latest information is that the Highways Department at OCC are responsible for the maintenance of this area. Cllr Mike Patrick said that some residents had misunderstood the situation regarding the trees, the only trees that had been referred to that might be considered for replacement were the two trees in front of 31 and 32 Combewell, they did not affect any other residents. The general feeling of the meeting was that these trees were not any different from the ones that the parish looked after in Elm Drive and with all the County Council cutbacks regardless of land ownership the county were unlikely to take any action. It was decided that the parish council would continue to maintain the trees in Combewell as they had done for many years and it was agreed that the quote of £550 should be accepted and the work carried out. Cllr Mike Patrick will speak to Positive Tree Care and authorise the work.

Old Stone Cross- Clerk had received acknowledgement of the application, Historic England would advise on a decision within 45 days (early February)

Grass Cutting- Vice Chairman Anne Eastwood gave the clerk a sketch of the changes to the grass cutting schedule for Parsler’s Piece, it was decided that in view of the changes regarding verge cutting which were being proposed by the County Council, further discussions on quotes for 2016 would be deferred until February. Cllr Richard Betteridge suggested that quotes should be obtained for a fixed 3 year period.

Defibrillator – Cllr John Hieatt said he had reached an agreement with Mr Hopkins to position the defibrillator on his premises in Willow Close. He reported that he had been in touch with Rob Jeffery, who was organising an electrician to look at the site to make sure it was suitable and provide a quote for the work. Cllr Hieatt said that if the installation did go ahead he had agreed that a £30 contribution towards the running cost would be paid to Mr Hopkins on an annual basis by the Parish Council.